Time Burton´s Gothic Fantasy: Representing the Victorian Culture through Animation and Parody

Throughout the novel Dracula, the text prominently features the ‘uncanny.’ In literature and other texts, the uncanny refers to an unfamiliarity that is frightening familiar. It’s presence in Dracula is obvious as we and the novel characters see Dracula as uncanny. Both appropriations of Dracula, Nosferatu (1922) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), reflect their context and hence reflect the values, idea and themes prominent in their context. Nosferatu resembles its isolated German Expressionist Cinema context through its jewish propaganda portrayed by many techniques, most notably its heavy use of dramatic lighting. Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s contrasting themes include its romanticisation of Dracula which expresses the romantic notions prominent

Tim Burton is one of the most unusual and unique directors of our time. He brings characters to life by putting them in a habitat they don’t belong. His movies “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Corpse Bride”, “Charlie and the chocolate factory”, and “Edward Scissorhands” all demonstrate how one of a kind his movies are. Using cinematic techniques, Tim Burton points out the misfit character and shows how different they are then everyone else. His use of camera angles, lighting, and sound give the viewers a different perspective on the movies, and help pick out the individual character.

A querying of normative gender behaviour and sexuality pervades the 19th century gothic fiction text. What does this reveal about the cultural context within the tale exists?

Introduction Boundaries are important as they indicate a limit a person not supposed to cross, it important that people respect boundaries as once boundaries are crossed, it can affect the relationship between two people or society as a whole. Crossing boundaries come with consequences. In regards to this assignment we will be looking at consequences of challenging boundaries in the gothic novels Wuthering heights and Frankenstein. The social and cultural background of the genre gothic novel According to Mullan, (2014), gothic fiction began as a sophisticated joke Horace Walpole first applied the word gothic to a novel in the subtitle – ‘a gothic story’- of the Castle of Otranto, published in 1764. According to Tiffin (2011) the historical context of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century is important to the gothic form, as

The Presentation of Miss Havisham in Chapter 8 and in Chapter 49 of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

In usual fairytale movies, filmmakers intend to make films that give happy endings with simple miraculous entertainments. However, in the fable movie, Edward Scissorhand, the director, Tim Burton, positions the viewers to understand the significant meaning of particular issues. “E.S” is can be seen as a story of stereotypical suburbia with social criticism. In this essay, starting from analysing this film and providing dominant discourse, the use of characters will be discussed followed by debate of technical and symbolic codes which help to put up the discourse. In particular, this essay will consider the technical code of camera angle and symbolic codes of colour which emphasize the dominant discourse.

Tim Burton’s gothic drama film Edward Scissorhands explores what is immoral with our society. A present issue with humanity is people who are different are encouraged to conform. In addition, society plays by the rules and follow societal norms rather than listening to their hearts. Most importantly, humans are cruel and exploit those who are vulnerable for their own benefit. Through the use of film techniques, Burton proposes the faults in humanity and the brutal nature of humans.

How does Burton use film technique to present the ‘Wonderland’ as a magical, mystical and nonsense universe? [i.e. computer generated characters, film exposure, colour, music, etc.]

An imagine Charles Dickens has left in my mind is Miss. Havisham. I see this faceless, all bone, yellow skinned lady wearing one shoe and a wedding dress. Miss. Havisham was originally described on page 47 and she was described as a weary, wore down woman and I was having fun imagining this peculiar lady. I see her like Maleficent, because she was written as very boney, again on page 47. I just imagine her cheekbones being very prominent, like Maleficent. I also see her like looking kind of deranged because on page 47 Dickens wrote; "She uttered the word with a eager look, and with a weird smile". I think the weird smile part is what lead me to believe she looks deranged. I can't see her face, but I can see her features like; sunken eyes, that

FW Murnau’s 1921 film Nosferatu is an appropriation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. Despite it being an appropriation, explicit gothic conventions remain evident, which explore societal fears and values. These fears and values differ from Dracula, due to distinct contextual influences of different time periods.

    Perhaps no work of literature has ever been composed without being a product of its era, mainly because the human being responsible for writing it develops their worldview within a particular era.  Thus, with Bram Stoker's Dracula, though we have a vampire myth novel filled with terror, horror, and evil, the story is a thinly veiled disguise of the repressed sexual mores of the Victorian era.  If we look to critical interpretation and commentary to win support for such a thesis, we find it aplenty "For erotic Dracula certainly is.  'Quasi-pornography' one critic labels it.  Another describes it as a 'kind of incestuous, necrophilious, oral-anal-sadistic all-in-wrestling matching'.  A

Novel in particular and literature in general is more than just a work of fiction but in fact the hidden reflection of a specific historical era. Although, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights and Dracula were written in different times and each leaves its readers with different emotion and contemplation stages, they all share an affinity: the presence of Gothic elements. Indeed, these novels are designed to lead their reader into thrilling journeys through spooky dark setting, suspense horrifying plot, and claustrophobic atmosphere. These elements, though appear in various forms throughout these three novels, still excellently accomplish their mission of enticing the readers to be caught up in the narrative.

Bram Stoker’s ingenious piece of work on writing Dracula has set the expectation for gothic novels all over the world and time to come. The mindset of writing Dracula through the Victorian Era really sets the tone for the reader by creating a spine-tingling sensation right through the novel. With this in mind, Stoker wouldn’t have been able to succeed his masterpiece without the effective uses of symbolism, imagery, foreshadowing, and its overall theme.

All too often the gothic literature genre is reduced in its interpretation to gloomy weather and archaic haunted houses. These patterns do exist, but they do not define the genre. Gothic literature found its niche in the 18th and 19th centuries, and during the Victorian era it served a more nuanced purpose than simply to scare readers. Many gothic authors used a monster as a vessel to symbolize topics that the Victorian era sensibilities would label as “monstrous.” They are the incarnation of the taboo subjects society is trying to repress. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart”, the authors use Freudian symbolism along with literary symbolism to demonstrate the repercussions of repressing “id” desires.

It’s strange trying to think about these original film properties—Frankenstein and Dracula, respectively—as serious pictures, void of camp and cheese. However, most of this comes from age. It’s interesting then, watching the Hammond-era films, and trying to view them as anything remotely serious. They aren’t. However, they do, at times, manage to disguise themselves as such. In reality, these movies are no Rosemary’s Baby, but rather the birth of a new brand of gothic horror—the gore filled, B-movie, spin-off franchise films; a weird series of twisted exploitation reboots, upping the ante and upping the ridiculous names. The two things that immediately came to mind when watching these films is the obvious influence they had on the work of Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro, and Kate Bush’s song “Hammer Horror” — I admire both artists greatly, so I went in the Hammerverse with my eyes wide open.